The Orchard County could be sitting on a glittering gold mine, the Mirror can reveal today.

Prospectors are hopeful they have struck a potential fortune after finding traces of the precious metal in streams and bedrock.

Samples have revealed a solid amount of gold in bedrock from trenches dug by exploration and mining company Conroy Gold and Natural Resources Plc.

Speaking about the operation at Clay Lake near Keady, Co Armagh, the firm’s chairman Prof Richard Conway said: “In one particular area covering five metres we’ve found three grammes of gold a tonne which for gold is very good.

“We’ve found that in the surface bedrock.

“There is another area of 22 metres, around 60ft to 70ft, and one gramme a tonne has been found there which is good mineralisation.

“It’s really encouraging as the gold gets better the deeper you go so this is very good.”

The company revealed its findings yesterday following laboratory tests, which confirmed gold had been found in the bedrock and the grading. Prof Conway said: “We’re found a lot of gold in trenches but there is still a lot of work to do but we know there’s gold at a depth of at least 100 metres.

“These are as tremendously encouraging results as we’ve had in recent years.”

As to whether Co Armagh could literally be sitting on a gold mine, he added: “That’s the ultimate goal and what we are hoping for.”

Prof Conroy’s company has been digging gold trenches in nearby Clontibret, Co Monaghan, for years.

But after a lucky metal detector hunter discovered a huge 28 gramme gold nugget in the mid-1980s, prospectors set their sights across the border to find a fortune.

Prof Conroy said: “That was a further encouragement for us to look North.

“We’ve taken thousands of soil samples on the area North of Clay Lake in which the soil samples showed traces of gold.”

The firm plans to draw up a drilling programme to continue its explorations.